More than a quarter (27% or 4.9 million people) of the 18.5 million persons aged 15 years and over living in Australia in 2013–14 participated in at least one selected cultural activity during the 12 months before the interview for this survey. The participation rate in 2010-11 was also 27%. Participation rates for selected activities included 9.8% for textile crafts, jewellery making, paper crafts or wood crafts and 8.3% for sculpting, painting, drawing or cartooning, including digital pieces.

Of the states and territories, the Australian Capital Territory had the highest participation rate in cultural activities (39%). Other states and territories had participation rates in cultural activities ranging from 24% in Queensland to 29% in Victoria.

People aged 15–24 years reported the highest participation rate in cultural activities (35%). Participation rates tended to decrease with age; people aged 25–34 had a participation rate of 28% and people aged 65 years and over had a participation rate of 23%. Overall, women had a higher participation rate (30%) than men (24%).

Men and women had different patterns of participation in 2013–14. Women were more likely than men to participate in textile crafts, jewellery making, paper crafts or wood crafts - with participation rates of 14% (1.3 million female participants) and 5.9% (532,800 male participants) respectively - and in sculpting, painting, drawing or cartooning with participation rates of 10% (971,400 female participants) and 6.2% (564,800 male participants) respectively.

In contrast, men were more likely than women to participate in designing websites, computer games or interactive software – with participation rates of 4.8% (439,000 male participants) and 2.0% (184,500 female participants) respectively - and in writing song lyrics, or mixing or composing music – with participation rates of 3.6% (326,600 male participants) and 1.5% (141,300 female participants) respectively.